Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that was decided in 1954. This case marked a major turning point in the civil rights movement as it declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The case was named after Oliver Brown, one of the plaintiffs who filed a class-action suit against the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.

The Supreme Court's unanimous decision, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, overturned the previous "separate but equal" doctrine established in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case. The ruling stated that racially segregated schools were inherently unequal and violated the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause.

Brown v. Board of Education paved the way for desegregation in public schools and was a catalyst for the larger civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. It was a significant step towards ending racial segregation and discrimination in the United States.